"A Brooklyn detective shot and killed an unarmed
woman in a stolen car after she blew through three
red lights, hit a minivan and tried to escape by
driving in reverse, police said.
The incident unfolded about 5:40 p.m. in East
Flatbush when two plainclothes narcotics cops
spotted Shantel Davis, 23, at the wheel of a gray
Toyota Camry she allegedly carjacked at gunpoint
on June 5.
Davis — who had eight arrests on her rap sheet,
sources said — ran a series of red lights along
Church Ave. and crossed a double yellow line to
pass cars at E. 38th St., where she smacked into
the minivan, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
As the two cops approached the Camry, they saw
Davis slide over to the passenger side, where the
seat had been stripped out, and try to open the
door.
One officer, who has been on the force six years,
got hit by the door and was thrown backward,
Browne said. Davis then got back in the driver’s
seat, put the car in reverse and hit the gas,
police said.
Simultaneously, another cop, identifed by sources
as Detective Phillip Atkins, 44, was entering the
driver’s side of the Camry, with his gun in hand.
“He’s attempting with the other hand to shift the
gear into park,” Browne said.
“When she’s hitting the gas, a single round was
discharged from his firearm, striking the woman in
the chest.”
Browne said it was too soon to say whether the
detective, who has 12 years on the force, meant to
pull the trigger or if it was an accident.
Witnesses described a scene of chaos before the
shooting.
Dave McKenzie said he heard the cops yelling: “Get
out! Get out!”
“They try to pull her out of the car, and she
fights them,” McKenzie said, recalling the woman
screaming, “Let me go! Let me go!”
“ ‘I don't want to be killed! Don’t kill me!’ ”
the woman yelled, McKenzie added.
Lorraine Preddie, 61, said that after she heard
the crash, she saw the detective in a blue NYPD T-
shirt with a shield around his neck.
“The next thing I saw was the police officer took
his gun out and fired a shot,” she said.
Witnesses said it was instantly clear the woman
was gravely wounded.“She was bleeding, and then
she just dropped. She fell on the floor facedown.
She was shaking and the blood was just going out
of her,” said one woman who works at a nearby
laundermat.
“She was in the street,” Preddie said. “They
started giving her chest compressions and took her
in the ambulance.”
Davis died at Kings County Hospital. Councilman
Jumaane Williams broke the news to her family.
Police said the owner of the Camry confirmed that
Davis swiped the vehicle.
Davis, who was identified by family members, was
due in court Friday on a kidnapping and attempted
murder case stemming from a May 2011 attack.
“This is like a bad dream,” said cousin Stephanie
Gilmer, 40, who called Davis a “sweetie pie.”
“She was only 23. She had her whole life in front
of her.”
Despite Davis’ criminal record, Assemblyman Nick
Perry said he was concerned about the
circumstances of her death “because the
investigation I have seems to suggest this woman
was not a threat.”
Mike Palladino, head of NYPD detectives union,
backed Atkins, who had never fired his gun in the
line of duty.
“Based on the facts and the circumstances, I’m
confident that our detective’s actions were
appropriate and justified,” Palladino said.
" NY Daily News